Basics-Let me pick you brain…. Mind flayers! This product provides some background on the illthids that stalk the Underdark from elder brains to lich mind flayers. This product is firmly a GM only product but provides a ton of different creatures for the DM to throw at his/her players as well as whole campaign of ideas for the players to combat.

Mechanics or Crunch-I love mind flayers, and this book provides some awesome new crunch to their bag of tricks. This book is primarily a monster manual focusing on these evil monsters, but the monsters it does provide all look great in terms of their stats. This product stays away from the psionic side of things and introduces new monsters like a lich mind flayer. Nothing quite like an undead brain eater to throw at the party! What’s here is a fun bag of tricks for the DM to surprise the players with. 5/5

Theme or Fluff-Here is where things are slightly off kilter, but not by much. There are no pictures of any on the creatures from this book. I’d like a few more pictures so I can throw these to my players to instill the sheer horror of what’s ahead of them. What is here though does have some great fluff to build on the world and the mythos of the purple fiends from underground. Also, by focusing on the arcane, the book misses a bit of the psionic fun that these creatures have. The arcane monsters that are here are great, so while I might not be as enthralled with the magic of them they do have their own world built around them. 4.75/5

Execution– What’s here is good, but I’d like a bit more art to show the players and break up the text. The major problem I have is some systemic problems that can’t really be fixed. The DM guild provides an awesome platform for creators to build onto the world that Wizards of the Coast has. However, it comes with limits, and this book runs into them and it hurts the product a bit. I’d like this product to start with the basic mind flayer. The book can’t as that’s not allowed by the terms of the DM Guild. I’d like to include the current psychic ideas, but that also can’t be added as that isn’t part of the DM Guild as well. Overall, it’s a great product, but I feel it’s fighting a bit of an uphill battle to be as amazing as it is. 4.25/5

Summary-Mind flayers are my second favorite enemy after the undead, so this book hit the best parts of my evil soul. I love new options to make my players cringe and cry as horrors beyond time and space devover commoners in horrific ways, and this book provides those new abominations to make that happen. However, I feel that a few changes would help this product get to its potential. Some are minor things like more pictures of the monsters, but some are things that can’t be fixed because of the platform it’s placed on. The DM Guild is a phenomenal resource, but some of its restrictions will hurt products. And, I feel that those restrictions hurt the product here. It doesn’t damage the product in a real tangible way. You will enjoy this from cover to cover, but you can feel the problems it presents in this tome. 93%